Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex

My five-​year old daughter has now been taking ballet, gymnastics and swimming courses here for almost three years. She loves every class.
We’ve ended up relying on this place for a lot of her exercise activities. The fact that it’s run by the City of Ottawa helps because (it seems) they keep a running file on anybody who’s registered. So I was able to register my daughter for a summer camp in Blackburn Hamlet at the Bob MacQuarrie Centre. $ 700 for six weeks of day camp.

It’s a top quality facility. I go there to play squash every week and the quality of the squash courts is better than other places I have seen at other places in Ottawa (such as Carleton U) and the price of admission is cheaper too ($ 8.00 for adults and $ 6.15 for students). For indoor racquet sports they have both squash and racquetball courts, including squash courts with a sort of staging area behind the court, which is a nice touch. They also have a pool, arena, fitness equipment, and a large number of other facilities. I haven’t used the pool yet but I have heard good things about it while the fitness equipment looks nice (although I am not exactly an expert in judging the quality of fitness equipment).
Changing facilities are on the small side, but the washrooms and shower area in the men’s area are nice and clean, including a hot tub. Also parking is free, which is an added bonus compared to university owned recreation facilities.

I went to the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex to attend a music class, but checked out all the facilities while I was here. This is a great centre for anyone in Orleans, but would still be great even if you could get to it from farther away, since this complex has a lot to offer.
There is an extensive program listing in the City of Ottawa catalogues including sports instruction, music, art, fitness and other classes.
I had a friend who taught here and she got full access to all the facilities as a benefit. The gym here is great and so is the pool. Weekend mornings are busy with kids hockey, figure skating and swimming.